Soul Bound
I always knew I was different from all the other kids. I couldn't fit in with the human kids and I couldn't fit in with the demon kids … even when I am a bit of both.
Being raised by pacifists I was taught at a very early age to contain my emotions for fear of awakening the demonic powers that reside in me. As an empath I can sense other people's emotions and I can predict future events.
Trust me, it's not as cool as it sounds.
It's hard enough that I have to regularly meditate to keep my demonic side in check but I also have to block out other people's (or beings) emotions, and with the villains we fight on a regular basis … I have to go overtime on my meditation just to get rid of their bad vibes.
But, there's an upside to me being a walking vibes absorber, I wouldn't have met that one person that I felt that I could connect with.
.
As if he had sensed my presence, Robin turned from his spot on the Titans Tower rooftop to find me walking towards him.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked smiling at me knowingly as I sat beside him.
"Didn't feel like—I just thought I'd come out for some air since I spent all night dispelling Mad Mod's weird vibes from my system."
"I thought you liked weird." He bobbed his head to the side smirking at me.
"There's good weird and then there's weird- weird."
Robin let out a small chuckle as he went back to staring at the sea into the horizon where the sun was slowly rising.
"You don't always get to see this kinda view in Gotham." He noted, silently marveling at the early morning lights hitting the city alluding to the beginning of a new day. "I'm sure you'd love it there."
"You know me." I smiled.
With a small grunt, Robin stood up and extended his hand to help me up.
"Let's head to the kitchen and prepare some breakfast before everyone wakes up." He suggested and I agreed.
Anything to spend more time alone with him …
"That's a lot of facon even for Beast Boy." Robin noted while whipping some pancake batter.
"I'm making some for me too. I'm suddenly not in the mood for any animal products for breakfast … must've picked it up from a vegetarian nearby during yesterday's fight with Moddy."
"You never picked up Beast Boy's vegetarian vibes despite knowing him for so long but you manage to pick it up from a random hippie?" Robin was slightly incredulous.
"That's because I learned to block his vibes."
"Good morning!" Came the familiar upbeat voice of Starfire who swooped in to share a kiss with Robin.
Over the years I've gotten better at controlling my emotions, mentally dissolving any emotions that arise during any given situation so they wouldn't interfere with my thoughts or powers— but somehow I always felt a pang of jealousy twist in my heart when they were together like this. Which has been happening more often ever since Tokyo.
"Aww you didn't have to do all this for me Rae." I was surprised to find Beast Boy standing real close to me peering into the frying pan I was holding which contained his facon.
I hope he didn't notice anything while I was distracted by Robin and Starfire's PDA.
"You're up early." I commented as I placed some facon on a plate in front of him.
"I smelled facon and I had to investigate. Are you trying to get my attention since it's Valentine's Day today?" He wiggled his thick eyebrows suggestively at me. "Because it's working."
"Valentine's Day?!" I exclaimed.
I've ignored this day for so long that I barely notice it until I went out and saw the whole city covered in V-day decorations like it was painted red… literally.
"Ha!" Cyborg scoffed loudly as he closed the fridge door and opened a milk carton. "Like Raven would care about some Valentine's Day mess. No offense Rae."
"None taken."
"What? That Goth boy you've been hanging out with too dark for V-Day?" Beast Boy mocked.
I was bothered, not by BB's words but by what's about to happen. "I'm going to my room." I said.
"You haven't eaten anything Raven." Robin told me, his voice filled with concern.
Concern for a girl he considered the sister he's never had.
"I need to get some sleep," I lied "I couldn't get any last night."
"So where will you take me today?" I heard Starfire ask Robin the question I was trying to avoid hearing.
I hate Valentine's Day ….
After I left to my room Cyborg smacked Beast Boy upside the head.
"Ow!" Beast Boy screamed in pain.
"See what you did? You done gone and upset the girl!"
"I didn't mean to!"
.
I sighed as I threw myself on the bed. Thinking about my miserable life. About how my mom was just a depressed woman who joined a cult where she met my dad who tricked her into marrying him … she contemplated suicide while she was pregnant with me. To put it plainly, my parents' relationship was messed up how can I expect to know anything about relationships? I'm lucky enough to have friends.
A knock on my door woke me from my thoughts and I rushed to open the door secretly wishing it was Robin passing by to check on me.
"Beast Boy- " I was hoping the disappointment wasn't obvious in my voice.
"Hey- Raven listen." He started while he rubbed his left arm with his left hand nervously. "Sorry about earlier- I didn't mean to- uh- insult your boyfriend."
"It's ok … that wasn't why I left. I was really tired." I gave him a weak smile. "Oh and Goth boy isn't my boyfriend."
He paused for a bit, looking deep into my eyes before nodding and saying, "Ok. Get your rest."
I thanked him for being considerate enough to apologize and as soon as my door closed I sensed a presence, a sinister one, within my room.
"Show yourself before I have to." I warned already getting my powers ready. "Trust me, I won't be nice about it."
The creature started to appear in front of me taking me by surprise.
"Jacob?!" I asked incredulous.
Jacob, aka Lust, one of the deadly sins and my half-brother … one of many. After impregnating my mom, Trigon got busy trying to build his own army of demon spawn to rule earth.
"What's up sis? Thought I'd drop by."
"You have ten-seconds to explain what you're doing here in-my-room before I vaporize you."
"Hey calm down Raven, if I wanted to be threatened at I would've gone to Jared."
I lowered my defenses but stayed alert; you can never trust a demon hybrid … even if they were family. Not that I had a normal one.
"Speak." I ordered.
"Well I've been going around and I happened to stop by Jump City, and it's Valentine's Day so I thought I'd stay and work my magic- maybe even meet a cute girl to go out with." He smirked.
I raised an inquisitive brow at him, "You know what I wanted to do to the last person who wanted to play cupid?"
"You have Trigon's temper." He taunted.
"You have his eyes." I quipped.
"Relax sis I'm not playing Cupid. I'm just bringing out a little passion in people."
"If you're looking to cause trouble here in the city and on my watch I swear Jacob… "
Jacob raised his right hand "I give you my word. I just need to practice my magic and I wanted to give you a heads up. See ya."
And just like that he vanished from my room to who-knows-where up to who-knows-what. I guess there won't be any sleep for me tonight.
I picked up one of the spell books I'd recently bought and decided to look up for spells to help me prepare for any Jacob's antics.
Why couldn't I have been born an only child?
By the time I decided to take a break the sun had already gone down.
I sort of unintentionally wondered what Robin and Starfire were doing causing me to scream in frustration as if to scare away those thoughts.
.
"Boo-ya!" I heard Beast Boy exclaim victoriously from the ops-room while I got something from the kitchen.
"Where's Cyborg?" My question seemed to take him by surprise as I heard him gasp in surprise and look behind to find me by the room's entrance.
"He's out on a date with Bumblebee- - Ok so I take it you and Goth boy broke up?"
"We were never together. He got too boring." I responded as I plopped next to him on the couch.
Beast Boy laughed, "Dude! What did you expect? He's a wannabe zombie kid … I get all these death vibes whenever he's around. So lame."
I chuckled at his words, he was right. Goth boy was just Boring and Bland instead of Dark and Mysterious.
Beast boy looked at his watch and stood up saying he'll go make some coffee to keep us up for any emergency just in case the others decide to stay out later.
"Black right?" he asked.
"Actually, I think I might try something different this time. What do you usually have?"
"Uh ... Mocha with soy milk … Raven is something going on?" He asked me seeming a little uneasy.
"What do you mean?"
"I dunno." he started to rub the back of his neck nervously. "I'm getting this feeling that there's something you wanna talk about."
"I …"
How could I ask him what it felt like to want someone who didn't want you? To want the only person you could connect with and be yourself without fear of being judged but instead they've moved on with their lives … and you were still stuck in their memories hoping someday they'll come back for you'?
Like Terra …
I shook my head and put on my best scowling face.
"Can't a girl want to try something different without being interrogated?" I asked defensively.
Beast Boy gave me a relieved smile and said, "One dairy-free mocha coming right up."
We spent the night with Beast Boy telling me about the Valentine's Days he remembered before joining the Teen Titans. He told me about how his parents and his adventures with them in the jungle and later about his new life at Dayton Manor. Something warm erupted in my chest as I imagined what it felt like to have family … maybe that was why he was always so cheerful despite the pain he's been through.
He asked me what life was like for me as a child.
"Well." I looked down at my hands which were touching my bare knees. "It was pretty peaceful … everyone was a vegetarian-"
I let out a small chuckle and turned to face him but found that he'd already dozed off. I was slightly tempted to look into his mind. Normally I'd see this as an invasion of privacy but I reasoned that Beast Boy had snuck into my room a few times. This should be fair.
I was careful to focus on memories of Terra especially their last encounter together, it was easier said than done but I managed. The moment I was done, I barely felt the tear that fell from my left eye.
He had it as bad as I did.
"We're home!" I heard Cyborg call out as he entered the ops room and I quickly wiped that tear.
Starfire and Robin followed shortly after.
"You guys stayed home all this time?" Cyborg asked as he approached us.
I nodded yes and got up to head to my room.
"I had the utmost enjoyable time of my life! Thank you Robin for this unforgettable day!" I heard Starfire exclaim as I passed by them to leave the room.
The night went smoothly; no villain gone mad with revenge, no attacks on the tower … even the bad guys had something better to do today.
I sat cross-legged in the middle of my bedroom and prepared to meditate but before I could do so someone called me on my T-Communicator.
"Robin?" I wondered why he just didn't come to my room.
"I need you to meet me at the pier, alone."
"Why alone?" I asked.
"Leave the questions for later, I need you here now." He demanded one last time before ending the call.
.
Author's Note: So this is my first Teen Titans fanfic! I've been wanting so long to write one back in high school but I guess I never got to it. But here it is and I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Let me know what you guys think.